Out of the Park Baseball 23 is just a few weeks away from launch, and it's another big year for this longtime team strategy franchise.
With this year's launch looking to be their best yet, we got to speak to Rich Grisham with Com2uS about what fans can expect in Out of the Park Baseball 23.
Out of the Park Baseball 23 aims to please both new and longtime fans
While some fans may have their attention on the recently released MLB The Show 22, die-hard franchise fans and new players alike will soon have another option in Out of the Park Baseball 23.
With more than two decades of games anchoring this franchise, Out of the Park Baseball 23 is set for a release date of April 22, 2022, and is once again pushing the title to new heights.
New Uniform Customization
We had the opportunity to speak with Rich Grisham, Director of Business Development at Com2uS, and Grisham was clear that Out of the Park Baseball 23 is bringing upgrades to the table for both new and longtime players.
"Our longest term fans, we think are gonna be really excited about things like how we have added a lot more customization levels to the individual clubs," Grisham said. "There are fans who have been asking us for the ability to create alternate uniforms for a decade or more, really especially since we introduced 3D Mode."
"That's gonna be a real big hit with our longtime fans, and the ability to have multiple versions of alternate uniforms and be able to design and customize them to your heart's content. That's a really big deal," Grisham said before turning to a major change that should help new players.
New Tutorial System
"One of the biggest criticisms that has been levied against us for many years is that Out of the Park Baseball can be very intimidating to newcomers, which we understand," he said. "That's one of the reasons that we're so excited about the new system we created for in-game tutorials. This allows a brand new person to be able to walk through various parts of the game at their own pace, and it's a very big game with a lot that you can do."
"We're trying to make the game welcoming to the new fans. Not even just brand new, but folks who might've only been playing for a year or two, and everything inbetween, but it's not easy," Grisham explained. "When you're 23 years into developing a big game, trying to deliver the most amount of new stuff to the most fans is really challenging, but we embrace the challenge. We love it."
Universal DH and other MLB rules updates
Another thing fans can expect from Out of the Park Baseball 23 is that it will have the updated official MLB rules as of the 2022 season, and that includes the new universal designated hitter rule.
"One of the things that we do every year is allow for the default setting to include all of the new rules," Grisham began. "That's one of the things we've sort of been known for, but what we're also known for is options and customization. If you've got a longtime National League fan who is dead set against the designated hitter in the National League, you've got a little check box they can check to turn it off. "
OOTP Baseball Go continues mobile integration
With the acquisition of longtime developer Out of the Park Developments by Com2uS in late 2020, Out of the Park Baseball 23 will continue to integrate into their mobile portfolio.
Com2uS also develops mobile titles like MLB 9 Innings 22 which offer a complementary experience for players who want something different with their mobile baseball gameplay.
Out of the Park Baseball 23 will also continue last year's release of a companion mobile app called Out of the Park Baseball Go, which Grisham explained will again work as a companion to Out of the Park Baseball 23 allowing players to connect and play Perfect Team on the go.
New league licenses and more localization support
While there aren't any immediate plans to jump to other platforms like Nintendo Switch or Xbox in the way that MLB The Show has continued to expand their presence, Grisham did highlight their push towards improved internationalization - including new league licenses and better localization and language support.
While Grisham emphasized that "as a baseball fan [his] goal is to have every single league license," which is no easy task, they were able to take a major step in that process last year by adding the KBO League license to bring the most popular baseball league in South Korea into OOTP Baseball.
"One of the things we introduced last year was being localized in the Korean language as well as English. Four years ago, that would've been impossible," Grisham explained. "Out of the Park Baseball was so much text and so much information, no one even thought it was possible to do, and yet we were able to pull it off last year."
"So, you're seeing in real time year by year in the individual titles, new features added, new licenses, new gameplay experiences," he said. "I believe you're definitely gonna see further both integration of a lot of those experiences as well as new complementary experiences happening over the next 3, 4, or 5 years."
Out of the Park Baseball 23 launches on PC, Mac, and Linux on April 22, 2022, and there are sure to be more reveals looking at exactly how this year's game will shine between now and that release date.